Great support for the British Government for the implementation of digital transformation in Serbia

“The project of Digital Transformation in Serbia was one of the first to be initiated by the Office for Information Technologies and e-Government last year, with the aim of developing e-Government and IT entrepreneurship. The results of this project are already reflected in the implementation of two rounds of retraining for a total of 800 participants. Out of the first round of 100 participants, 30% of them already work as developers, and for the second round of 700 participants, vocational practice – currently ongoing – has been organised after the completion of the training, with 50 participants already being employed as developers. Finally, starting September, we are also launching the third round of retraining for 500 participants with employment status. Also, another result of this project is reflected in the support for domestic companies to bring foreign experts in the field of development of innovative products and  growth of startups. The Good Governance Fund of the British Government recognized the importance of this initiative of the Government of the Republic of Serbia and donated 2.1 million euros of additional funds for digital transformation in the Republic of Serbia in various segments – starting with the e-Government development strategy, through the development of e-Government infrastructure, to new electronic services for citizens, businesses and the state. In this regard, we would like to thank the Good Governance Fund and the British Embassy for the significant financial assistance in the realization of this project“, said Mihailo Jovanović (Associate Professor, PhD), Director of the Office for Information Technologies and e-Government.

He added that within this project, the first concrete activity, financed by the Good Governance Fund, is the procurement of consulting services for the development strategy and the concept of the Secondary State Data Centre, to be built in Kragujevac, which was declared by the Government of the Republic of Serbia as a project of significance for the Republic of Serbia.

“With this donation of 2.1 million euros for the Digital Transformation Project in Serbia, as well as other donations we have given for the improvement of e-Government in the total value of 5.2 million euros, the British Government is becoming the largest international donor in the field of e-Government in Serbia”, said Ambassador Keefe and added that Britain is ready to support Serbia in its reform priorities, with the aim of creating a more efficient and transparent public administration. Ambassador Keefe, as good examples of cooperation in the field of e-Government, mentioned the “Baby, Welcome to the World” service and the Open Data Project.

The project “Digital Transformation in Serbia” will last for the following three years and will be divided into five segments.

The first three segments, funded by the UK from the Good Governance Fund, include support to the Office for IT and e-Government in:

• Implementing the e-Government Development Strategy and supporting other institutions in the implementation of e-Government;
• Developing e-Government infrastructures, including state ICT network, state cloud, service bus for data exchange between institutions, and state portals - e-Government and Open Data Portal;
• Improving e-Government services through cooperation with professional associations and end-users.

The fourth segment, funded by the Government of the Republic of Serbia, includes support for the implementation of activities from the plans of the Ministerial Council for IT and Innovative Entrepreneurship, the Coordination Council for e-Government and the Creative Industries Council. Among the activities financed under this component are retraining in the field of IT, which is being implemented since 2017, as well as the support for domestic companies to bring foreign experts in the field of development of innovative products and growth of startups.

The fifth segment includes support for the implementation of higher-value infrastructure projects financed by the Government of the Republic of Serbia.